Neuroimaging Studies of Attention: From Modulation of Sensory Processing to Top-Down Control

Pessoa, Luiz; Kästner, Sabine; Ungerleider, Leslie G.

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.23-10-03990.2003

Cited by 401 publications

(306 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(120 reference statements)

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“…Previous work has reported that emotional relative to neutral distraction is associated with activity in amygdala and occipital and temporal cortex Pessoa et al, 2003;Vuilleumier et al, 2001). This is thought to reflect reciprocal connections between the amygdala and temporal and occipital cortex Mitchell et al 2007;LeDoux, 1996;Pessoa et al, 2002;Vuilleumier et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Previous work has shown that emotional stimuli cause greater interference than neutral stimuli Erthal et al, 2005;Harris & Pashler, 2004;Mitchell et al 2006Mitchell et al ,2007Pessoa et al, 2003;Vuilleumier et al, 2001). This is thought to reflect reciprocal connections between the amygdala and temporal and occipital cortex; the amygdala augments the activation of sensory representations of emotional distracters within occipital and temporal cortex LeDoux, 1996;Mitchell et al, 2007;Pessoa et al, 2002;Vuilleumier et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Moreover, increasing the visibility of distracters provides an interesting comparison condition to increasing the emotionality of distracters. It is suggested that emotional distracters cause more representational interference than neutral distracters because the activity of the neurons within visual and temporal cortex representing them receives additional input from the amygdala (Mitchell et al, 2006;Pessoa et al, 2003). Surpraliminal distracters should cause more representational interference than subliminal distracters because the supraliminal stimuli themselves should more strongly activate the neurons within visual and temporal cortex representing them (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Common regions of dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal–parietal cortices provide attentional control of distracters varying in emotionality and visibility

et al. 2007

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Top-down attentional control is necessary to ensure successful task performance in the presence of distracters. Lateral prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex have been previously implicated in top-down attentional control. However, it is unclear whether these regions are engaged independent of distracter type or whether, as has been suggested for anterior cingulate cortex, different regions provide attentional control over emotional versus other forms of salient distracter. In the current task, subjects viewed targets that were preceded by distracters that varied in both emotionality and visibility. We found that behaviorally, the presence of preceding distracters significantly interfered with target judgment. At the neural level, increases in the emotional and visual saliency of distracters were both associated with increased activity in proximal regions of prefrontal, parietal and cingulate cortex. Moreover, a conjunction analysis indicated considerable overlap in the regions of prefrontal, parietal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex responding to distracters of increased emotionality and visibility.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Common regions of dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal–parietal cortices provide attentional control of distracters varying in emotionality and visibility

et al. 2007

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“…Prefrontal (including both dorsolateral and ventrolateral) (Duncan and Owen, 2000;Rees and Lavie, 2001;Smith and Jonides, 1999) and ACC Duncan and Owen, 2000;Peterson et al, 1999;Smith and Jonides, 1999) cortices are reported to activate during attentional control tasks (especially visuospatial tasks) (Pessoa et al, 2003). Cigarette smoking may enhance attentional control through direct stimulation of nAChRs within these structures or perhaps through subcortical stimulation of nAChRs in the thalamus and via DA release and/or MAO inhibition in the basal ganglia.…”

Section: Discussion: Functional Neuroanatomy Of Tobacco Use and Depenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional brain imaging of tobacco use and dependence

Brody

2006

Journal of Psychiatric Research

176

136

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While most cigarette smokers endorse a desire to quit smoking, only about 14% to 49% will achieve abstinence after 6 months or more of treatment. A greater understanding of the effects of smoking on brain function may (in conjunction with other lines of research) result in improved pharmacological (and behavioral) interventions. Many research groups have examined the effects of acute and chronic nicotine/cigarette exposure on brain activity using functional imaging; the purpose of this paper is to synthesize findings from such studies and present a coherent model of brain function in smokers. Responses to acute administration of nicotine/smoking include: a reduction in global brain activity; activation of the prefrontal cortex, thalamus, and visual system; activation of the thalamus and visual cortex during visual cognitive tasks; and increased dopamine (DA) concentration in the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens. Responses to chronic nicotine/cigarette exposure include decreased monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B activity in the basal ganglia and a reduction in α 4 β 2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) availability in the thalamus and putamen. Taken together, these findings indicate that smoking enhances neurotransmission through cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits either by direct stimulation of nAChRs, indirect stimulation via DA release or MAO inhibition, or a combination of these factors. Activation of this circuitry may be responsible for the effects of smoking seen in tobacco dependent subjects, such as improvements in attentional performance, mood, anxiety, and irritability.

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“…The IFG was previously reported as being involved in emotion processing during the expectation of negative stimuli (Ueda et al, 2003), the perception of fearful stimuli (Pessoa, 2005), the inhibition of positive attitudes (Wood et al, 2005), and the detection of behaviorally relevant stimuli (Corbetta and Shulman, 2002). It was further reported to be active during visual attention (Pessoa et al, 2003), and it may be involved in a top-down activation of the temporo-occipital associative visual areas that we also found to be activated with 'negative' and 'unknown' expectation. The IFG was supposed to represent multi-modal sensory cues with high emotional salience (Yamasaki et al, 2002) and to be involved in emotional-cognitive integration (Mayberg, Activated regions according to the conjunction analysis of expectation 'unknown' and 'negative' stimuli, both versus expecting 'positive' and 'neutral' stimuli.…”

Section: Anatomical and Functional Features Of The Revealed Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of a ‘pessimistic’ attitude when anticipating events of unknown emotional valence

et al. 2007

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Since we do not know what future holds for us, we prepare for expected emotional events in order to deal with a pleasant or threatening environment. From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense to be particularly prepared for the worst-case scenario. We were interested to evaluate whether this assumption is reflected in the central nervous information processing associated with expecting visual stimuli of unknown emotional valence. While being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging, healthy subjects were cued to expect and then perceive visual stimuli with a known emotional valence as pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, as well as stimuli of unknown valence that could have been either pleasant or unpleasant. While anticipating pictures of unknown valence, the activity of emotion processing brain areas was similar to activity associated with expecting unpleasant pictures, but there were no areas in which the activity was similar to the activity when expecting pleasant pictures. The activity of the revealed regions, including bilateral insula, right inferior frontal gyrus, medial thalamus, and red nucleus, further correlated with the individual ratings of mood: the worse the mood, the higher the activity. These areas are supposedly involved in a network for internal adaptation and preparation processes in order to act according to potential or certain unpleasant events. Their activity appears to reflect a 'pessimistic' bias by anticipating the events of unknown valence to be unpleasant.

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Neuroimaging Studies of Attention: From Modulation of Sensory Processing to Top-Down Control

Cited by 401 publications

References 102 publications

Common regions of dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal–parietal cortices provide attentional control of distracters varying in emotionality and visibility

Common regions of dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal–parietal cortices provide attentional control of distracters varying in emotionality and visibility

Functional brain imaging of tobacco use and dependence

Neural correlates of a ‘pessimistic’ attitude when anticipating events of unknown emotional valence

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